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Greymouth Star
New Zealand
Thursday, October 16, 2014 - 7
Auckland
Prime Minister John Key has
kicked off the process for reviewing
New Zealand’s
century-old
national flag, confirming the first
public referendum will take place
late next year.
He also made some early lobbying
for his personal choice of a silver
fern, defending it against criticism
from war veterans.
When the decision to review
the flag was announced in March,
a two-stage referendum was
proposed.
Mr Key confirmed yesterday
the first referendum was likely to
be held in late 2015, when New
Zealanders would vote for the best
alternative flag out of a handful of
options.
The options would be selected by
an independent steering committee,
which would be in charge of
considering submissions from the
public.
A second referendum would be
held in April 2016 in which New
Zealanders would vote on adopting
the best alternative flag or staying
with the Union Jack and Southern
Cross.
The debate is likely to be divisive.
A Herald-DigiPoll sur vey showed
52.6% of New Zealanders opposed
a change and 40% wanted a new
flag.
At the Returned Ser vices
Association
conference
in
Wellington yesterday, national
president Don McIver said “a
significant majority” of members
would fight to retain the status quo
because it was “deeply meaningful”
to them.
“ We think our flag is a much-
loved flag and it probably deser ves
more than to be called a relic,”
he said, responding to Mr Key ’s
description of the national flag as a
colonial relic.
The RSA did not want a change
during World War One centenary
commemorations, though the
Prime Minister assured Mr
McIver the present flag would be
flown throughout the centenary
programme.
Mr Key has made it clear he wants
a change and yesterday reinforced
the arguments for a new flag.
He reiterated that a change to
a silver fern design would not be
disrespectful to soldiers who fought
and died under the Union Jack and
Southern Cross, because the silver
fern was car ved into the gravestones
of soldiers killed abroad.
His original preference was for a
silver fern on a black background,
but he was now leaning more
towards a design by Wellingtonian
Kyle Lockwood, which is blue and
red. He said his change of preference
was not related to concerns about
evoking the black flag of extremist
Muslim group Islamic State.
Monarchy New Zealand
spokesman Sean Palmer said his
membership was divided about a
change.
“On one hand there is heritage
and history in the current design,
but by the same token changing the
flag to a distinctly New Zealand
design, when the Queen is seen
with that flag, it will highlight
her distinctive role here in New
Zealand even more.”
— APNZ
Lincoln Tan
of the New Zealand Herald
An Immigration New Zealand
officer’s claim that people who listen
to Indian radio are unlikely to be New
Zealanders has prompted a lawyer
to lodge a complaint with the Race
Relations Conciliator.
Immigration lawyer Ramya
Sathiyanathan said she was shocked
when she got an e-mail from the officer
with regards to a visa application for a
job which a client had been offered.
The beauty therapist ’s position had
been advertised in the New Zealand
Herald, Winz and with Indian station
Radio Tarana.
The
immigration
officer said
she was not
satisfied that
the employer,
who supported
the visa
application,
had made
genuine
attempts to
recruit New
Zealand workers.
The application was declined and
one of the reasons she gave was: “New
Zealand citizens-residents are unlikely
to listen to an Indian radio station. ”
Ms Sathiyanathan, originally from Sri
Lanka, said: “I was shocked by what I
took to be a racist statement.”
She filed a complaint after failing to
get a retraction of the statement or an
apology from the agency.
Immigration area manager Michael
Carley said the remark was made in
the context of the employer having to
prove they had made genuine attempts
to recruit New Zealanders for the job
of beauty therapist before offering the
position to a migrant.
Mr Carley said the comment was
made in an initial assessment of the
essential skills work visa application.
“I NZ completely rejects any assertion
that any of its immigration officers
display any racial bias in their decision
making, but apologises to anyone who
took offence about the comment made,”
Mr Carley said.
Immigration specialist lawyer Alastair
McClymont, who is Ms Sathiyanathan’s
employer, said the reason the
advertisement was on Indian radio was
because the advertised position was for
a specialist Indian beauty therapist.
“The treatment procedures used are
not taught in New Zealand beauty
therapy schools. ”
— APNZ
Adam Bennett
of the New Zealand Herald
Prime Minister John Key appears to have
been misinformed by the Defence Force
about the nature of a Washington meeting
of the United States-led coalition to defeat
Islamic State.
However, Labour’s Phil Goff says Mr
Key himself was misleading the public
by insisting that New Zealand Chief of
Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim
Keating was attending a “regular” meeting
of defence chiefs — where Islamic State
was the only item on the agenda.
The meeting of military chiefs from
various countries, including Mr Keating, at
Andrews Air Force Base was addressed by
US President Barack Obama. Mr Key said
he had been assured by the Defence Force it
was just “a regular meeting the CDF always
goes to”.
International media billed it as a meeting
of the anti-Isis coalition and an official
report from the US Department of Defence
described it as a meeting “to co-ordinate
strategies in the fight against Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant terrorists”.
“It ’s true that one of the topics of
conversation will be what contributions
countries might make although that is not
the purpose of the meeting as I understand
it,” Mr Key said.
New Zealand has so far committed only
humanitarian aid to those suffering as a
result of the conflict.
The Defence Force yesterday afternoon
continued to insist the meeting was a
“regular” one but did not respond to
requests for its title or details of previous
meetings. A spokeswoman later confirmed
Mr Keating’s presence was “part of the
information-gathering
exercise being
undertaken by New Zealand officials to
enable them to develop comprehensive
advice to Government on countering Isis”.
Labour MP and former Defence Minister
Phil Goff said it was “most certainly not a
regular, normal meeting”.
“The Pentagon itself is saying that this is a
meeting of coalition countries to determine
what each country can do in a military
campaign against Isis.”
Mr Goff said he had until now accepted
Mr Key ’s assurances he would consult about
any potential military involvement in the
conflict.
“It just seems to me that all this talk which
I’ve accepted in good faith actually is just
political spin and the decision actually has
already been taken.
“The Prime Minister’s playing fast and
loose with the truth on this one. I’d like to
think we could trust the Prime Minister on
matters as serious as committing our troops
to a conflict where some may not return
but the argument does not stack up as he is
trying to portray it.”
Kristin Edge
Auckland
A specialist police dive squad is
searching the Northland coast for
dive gear following the death of a
57-year-old scuba diver.
Garry William Pitman of
Whangarei, and grandfather of six,
died shortly after surfacing without
his gear on Tuesday.
He was diving in the Waikuku
Beach area about midday when
the alarm was raised by his diving
buddies.
Whangarei police spokeswoman
Sarah Kennett said Mr Pitman had
been diving in about 10m of water,
at Waikuku Beach, north of Paua.
“He surfaced and they brought
him on the boat but he died at the
scene.”
There were four in the dive party,
made up of three divers and the
skipper of the boat.
It was not known what had
gone wrong, but the dead man’s
companions had retrieved his body
and taken him to Paua, where they
had launched from.
It was not yet known if the other
divers had been in the water or in the
boat at the time the man surfaced.
A post-mortem examination was to
be done in Auckland yesterday.
The police dive squad from
Wellington flew North and were
searching the water for the man’s dive
gear in the hope it would provide key
information.
Houhora residents had volunteered
a boat for the dive squad to use
and they left about 11.30am. It is
estimated it would take them three
hours boating to reach the dive spot
yesterday.
Meanwhile, it was a busy day
for Coastguard volunteers as they
rescued six boaties in two separate
incidents in Whangarei on Tuesday.
Coastguard
northern
region
received the first call for help about
midday from three people on board
a private vessel that broke down just
off Ruakaka.
The vessel had a flat battery
and Coastguard volunteers were
attending to that callout when they
received another mayday call off
Waipu Cove, south of Whangarei,
about 1pm.
Coastguard
northern
region
operations manager Ray Burge said
volunteers left a jumpstarter pack
with the three on board at Ruakaka
before rushing off to the second
callout within 10 minutes of the call
for help coming through.
The Ruakaka boaties safely made
their way to shore, he said.
Another three people were left
stranded at Waipu Cove after a fire
started in the engine of their 34ft
launch.
The blaze had been contained by
the time Coastguard volunteers
arrived, although it was still
smouldering.
Mr Burge said the volunteers
assessed the situation before towing
the launch to Marsden Cove Marina
where it was checked by firefighters.
“It was a busy day for the volunteers
but they did a fantastic job,” Mr
Burge said.
— APNZ
Official’s Indian radio remark sparks race row
Ramya Sathiyanathan
PM unfurls date
for first NZ flag
referendum
John Weekes
Auckland
A husband and wife who went for
a dive and resurfaced to find their
boat was gone sparked a rescue
operation last night.
The couple were off Ocean Beach,
37km south-east of Whangarei,
when their dinghy started rapidly
drifting away.
A Coastguard northern region
duty officer said the wife swam to
shore before calling emergency
ser vices.
Coastguard boats and the police
helicopter were called out, as the
husband stayed in the water and
started swimming toward the
dinghy. But it seemed the current
was too strong, and the runabout
drifted further away.
“The vessel itself drifted about
two miles ... so the husband would
have done some fair distance,” the
Coastguard duty officer said.
The husband apparently decided
pursuing the boat was pointless, so
he also swam back to shore.
The dinghy was found 1.6km
offshore. The couple and their
boat were reunited. All three were
fine — and the husband and wife
returned to their home last night.
Some experienced divers suggest
people have a “ boatman” or person
to stay on board while others dive,
to prevent scenarios similar to
yesterday’s case.
Water Safety New Zealand also
advises divers to study currents,
wind, tides, swell, boat traffic and
other conditions before heading
out.
— APNZ
Diving couple spark rescue
after boat goes missing
Public misled
on Islamic State
talks, says Goff
Police dive squad search
for dead diver’s gear
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